This Week, 1948 and 1971

January 30, 1948

On this day a Man of Peace was Gunned Down but His Legacy, Teachings, and Humanity Lives On!

Mohandas K. Gandhi was killed in Delhi
by an assassin who fired three shots from a pistol at a range of three feet.

An American reporter who saw it happen
Read It Here

"Just an old man in a loincloth in distant India: Yet when he died, humanity wept."
This was the observation of a newspaper correspondent at the death of Mahatma Gandhi.
The tragedy occurred in New Delhi as the gaunt old man walked to a prayer-meeting and was engulfed by one of
history's great ironies - a life-long pacifist and promoter of non-violence struck down by an assassin's bullet.

Wars of Choice are Atrosities even before they begin, as the Rethoric grows to lead to the Hatreds of others,
enough Hatreds that when the First Bombs Drop many Cheer the Death and Destruction on!
Those we've been led to Hate are than called Colateral Damage, another Atrosity, for it's the Innocents who suffer the most!

January 31, - Febuary 2, 1971
The Winter Soldier Hearings began in a Howard Johnson's motel in Detroit.
Sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the three days of hearings were an attempt by soldiers
who had served in Vietnam to inform the public of the realities of U.S. conduct in the war.
The veterans testified that the My Lai massacre was not an isolated incident, and that some
American troops had committed atrocities.
More than 100 veterans testified to such brutal acts. Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield later entered the
transcript of the Winter Soldier hearings into the Congressional Record but, otherwise,
the proceedings captured little attention.

Winter Soldier, The Film
View the Trailer: Windows Media Player, Mac-Quicktime

The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31-February 2, 1971. Discharged servicemen from each branch of military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963-1970.[1][2][3]
With the exception of Pacifica Radio, the event was not covered extensively outside Detroit. However, several journalists and film crews recorded the event, and a documentary film called Winter Soldier was released in 1972. A complete transcript was later entered into the Congressional Record. The Winter Soldier hearings were followed in April and May 1973 by the Fulbright Hearings, convened by Senator J. William Fulbright, chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Verification of participants' credibility

The organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation took several steps to guarantee the validity of the participants.
Each veteran's authenticity was checked before the hearings by the investigation event organizers, and subsequently by reporters and Pentagon officials. In addition, they also gave specific details about their units and the locations where the events had occurred. Those who wanted to testify were carefully screened by the officers of VVAW, and care was taken to verify the service records and testimony of the veterans. After the severe criticism of the accuracy of Mark Lane's book about atrocities a month before the event, the organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation made the credibility of the participants a top priority. All veterans participating in Winter Soldier were required to bring their discharge papers (DD-214's) and IDs.[17]
In this connection, the identifying military affiliation of each veteran testifying, including in almost all cases, the dates of service, appears on the roster for each panel that was included with the testimony in the Congressional Record [4]
As noted in VVAW records, each veteran's authenticity and testimony were checked after the hearings by Nixon's "plumbers." Charles Colson was assigned the task. In a confidential "Plan to Counteract Viet Nam Veterans Against the War", Colson wrote, "The men that participated in the pseudo-atrocity hearings in Detroit will be checked to ascertain if they are genuine combat veterans." At one point, the Nixon team suggested in a memo about VVAW, "Several of their regional coordinators are former Kennedy supporters." [18] VVAW was also targeted by the FBI for observation as a possible dissident organization.
Although military documentation was provided, some media organizations such as the Detroit News made further inquiries into the hearings by questioning the authenticity of the testifying veterans. Discharge papers were examined; military records were checked against the Pentagon records; after all their digging, not one fraudulent veteran was found.[19]
Several months after the Winter Soldier Investigation, NBC News reported on an incident with VVAW executive and Winter Soldier co-organizer Al Hubbard. Hubbard lied about being an officer during a Meet the Press television interview, and was confronted about it shortly afterward. Journalist William Overend states he had met Hubbard and he had been introduced as being a former Air Force captain. Overend learned Hubbard was only an E-5 Staff Sergeant when Hubbard had apologized on the Today Show a few days later, for exaggerating his rank. NBC's Frank Jordan recalls, "He was convinced no one would listen to a black man who was also an enlisted man." Hubbard did not testify at Winter Soldier, but detractors of the WSI frequently raise Hubbard's fabrication in attempts to generate doubt.
Fritz Efaw, a Chapter Representative of VVAW, stated: "The claims that the WSI hearings contained falsified testimony from men who were not veterans is an old one, and it's definitely false. The testimony was startling even at the time it took place: startling to the general public, startling to the military and the Nixon administration, and startling to those who participated because each of them knew a piece of the story, but the hearings brought a great many of them together for the first time and provided a venue in which they could be heard for the first time. It's hardly surprising that those on the other side would set out almost immediately to discredit them."
Seven years after the hearings, writer Guenter Lewy claimed in his book, America in Vietnam, that allegations against Marines were investigated by the Naval Investigative Service. Lewy wrote that the report stated that some veterans contacted by the NIS did not attend the WSI hearing in Detroit or had never been to Detroit, and many refused to be interviewed. However, government officials today cannot verify the report's existence, and no other historian has seen it.[5] Lewy later said that he could not recall if he had actually seen the alleged report or simply been told of its contents.[6] [7]
See the text of this excerpt from Guenter Lewy's book, America in Vietnam, in wikiquote
In addition, the Army found the allegations made by 46 veterans at the hearings to merit further inquiry, and were able to identify 43 of the complainants. The Army's CID investigators attempted to contact 41 of the people who testified; of the 36 they were able to locate, 31 submitted to interviews. [8]
One participant, Jamie Henry, had reported the massacre he described at the hearings [9] to the Army, which investigated and subsequently confirmed the story. However, the details of the investigation were not made public until 2006, when the Los Angeles Times published the declassified information [10].

This Country has Still not come to terms with Vietnam and Now it will need to dig Real Deep Within to come to Terms with the Present and the Hatreds it has Instilled in Many over the Actions We Have Taken!!

The fact that this process of truth-telling was not respected and honored as a part of the experience of these soldiers
is one of the reasons that the subject of the war in Vietnam continues to be misunderstood and misrepresented.
This is a very disturbing film about the making of war, the making of young men into killers, the bringing of our society into
acceptance of a war against people of a different color, a different culture, all the way around the globe.
It brings to the surface of consciousness questions that must be confronted and asked again
as our country is again sending off soldiers to die and to kill."

On March 13, 2008 Iraq Veterans Against the War, an organization inspired by Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
will convene at the National Labor College just outside of Washington to say, in so many words,
that it’s all happening again.
Organizers Model Event After Vietnam Investigation
Once Again, Our Country Needs Winter Soldiers



War crimes "encouraged?"
WATERTOWN, NY - "I was messed up in the head. It was okay for me. I laughed afterwards. We all did. It's just the way things go."
SNIP

But Turner says it wasn't his choice to be encouraged to do it from higher ranking officers. He and three other veterans speaking out Saturday at the Different Drummer Cafe in Watertown said committing war crimes is not only the way things go, but it's unofficial policy.
SNIP

You can read the rest at above link, along with catching the News 10 Video there as well.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan
IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War - Winter Soldiers

Winter Soldiers, according to founding father Thomas Paine, are those who stand up for the soul of their country, even in its darkest hours.

A group of Iraq war veterans are planning a gathering in Washington D.C. in March to talk about war crimes they've seen or committed during their tours of duty.

Statement of Support - Add Your Name Now

Humanity, that preaches Religious Beliefs, Human Rights, Morality has to come to terms with what War Brings On and it's Longterm Effects, Personal and to Security for All!

Some Powerful Articles like 'Pentagon Breaks with White House'

Greyhawk had this posted at ePluribus about the Military breaking ranks with the White House on the propaganda about the Successful Surge with only this one snippet

"Don't let the quiet fool you," a senior defense official says. "There's still a huge chasm between how the White House views Iraq and how we [in the Pentagon] view Iraq. The White House would like to have you believe the 'surge' has worked, that we somehow defeated the insurgency. That's just ludicrous. There's increasing quiet in Iraq, but that's happened because of our shift in strategy - the 'surge' had nothing to do with it."

And just a few sentences, so I followed the link. Here's abit more to hopefully get you to drop over to the Asia Times online and read the rest.

According to them this is Part 1

and we also find this

Moreover, these officers contend, the insurgency might not have put down roots in the country after the fall of Baghdad if it had not been for the White House and State Department - which undermined military efforts to strike deals with a number of Iraq's most disaffected tribal leaders. These officers point out that the first contact between high-level Pentagon officials and the nascent insurgency took place in Amman, Jordan, in August of 2003 - but senior Bush administration officials killed the talks.

A second round of meetings, this time with leaders of some of al-Anbar province's tribal chiefs, took place in November of 2004, but again senior administration officials refused to build on the contacts that were made. "We made the right contacts, we said the right things, we listened closely, we put a plan in place that would have saved a lot of time and trouble," a senior Pentagon official says. "And every time we were ready to go forward, the White House said 'no'."

I'll leave you with those, the rest you can find here

After you come back from the above report you might want to pay a visit to this Counter Punch editorial by By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS The Empire That Must Be Obeyed asking this question "What Gives the US the Right to Claim a Moral Monopoly Over the World?" and leading off with this:

"The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."
Five Western military leaders.

I read the statement three times trying to figure out the typo. Then it hit me, the West has now out-Owellled Orwell: The West must nuke other countries in order to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction! In Westernspeak, the West nuking other countries does not qualify as the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Got ya wondering? Than trip on over and read, he's also got a link to the statement by these five western military leaders!

Then there's a great writeup on the upcoming Iraq Veterans To Testify at Their Own 'Winter Soldier'
Organizers Model Event After Vietnam Investigation


Vietnam veteran John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

But while the investigation itself may have made little immediate impact, its disclosures would reverberate for decades. “We learned the meaning of free fire zones, shooting anything that moves, and we watched while America placed a cheapness on the lives of orientals,” a 27-year old Navy veteran, John Kerry, told the Senate about what Winter Soldier uncovered. The bitterness that testimony sowed in other Vietnam veterans, who felt betrayed by Winter Soldier, stayed alive through 2004, when the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth falsely maligned Kerry’s service record as payback. Now, with another intractable conflict proving to be another defining moment in American history, some veterans of the Iraq war intend to take up the Winter Soldier banner. On March 13, Iraq Veterans Against the War, an organization inspired by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, will convene at the National Labor College just outside of Washington to say, in so many words, that it’s all happening again.
“What’s happening now is no different than over the past five years,” said Geoff Millard, 27, the president of the group’s Washington chapter. “It’s the result of systematic problems in the way we fight an occupation. It’s not that we’re going to outline these huge atrocities. It’s how the systematic nature of occupation is oppression.” This time around, Winter Soldier will have what its predecessor didn’t: digital video to back up the charges.

Organizers estimate that perhaps 45 to 55 Iraq veterans, and some from Afghanistan, will testify to such “terrible things” at Winter Soldier. Liam Madden, 23, a Marine veteran of Iraq who’s now a student at Northeastern University, came up with the idea for a second Winter Soldier in late 2006 with his fellow IVAW members Aaron Hughes in Chicago and Fernando Braga in New York. “The people I’ve talked to who are testifying are going to talk about their experiences in Iraq, how they’re put in positions to harm the people of Iraq and harm the image of America because of the position they’re put in, and the complete injustice involved in that,” Madden said. “Other people will talk about how a run-of-the-mill day in Iraq is. It adds up to a checkpoint here, a house raid there, a house raid there, a house raid there, to a population of Iraqis who can’t tolerate you any longer.”
The project’s interview and verification committees are just getting started. But glimpses of the expected testimony are beginning to emerge. One of the early interviewees, a medic, told IVAW about treating a two-year old shot in the thigh by U.S. soldiers, and witnessing “the mutilation of the dead,” according to Jose Vasquez, 33, a former Army sergeant who heads Winter Soldier’s verification team. The public should expect to hear about “unnecessary killing of noncombatants on the battlefield,” said Vasquez, an anthropology graduate student at the City University of New York. (Vasquez himself filed as a conscientious objector after finding himself unable to participate in the Iraq war.) Indeed, a frequent theme among group members in interviews has been the intensity of manning checkpoints, where Iraqi civilians can die for simply not approaching a checkpoint slowly enough to reassure an apprehensive soldier who doesn’t speak their language.

Now the organizers have this to say:

Yet the organizers of Winter Soldier will consider the event a failure if it appears to blame soldiers and Marines for the war.

It's the Occupation not the Military Personel, except for the Extreme Few, as it was in 'Nam and any Conflict, many devestating incidents are Not Atrosities or War Crimes, but it really doesn't matter how We Define Anything after we invade and occupy, it's the Perception of those we Invaded and their lands we Occupy, just as it would be if it were us!

This report gives you an insight to both sides of thought about this upcoming event of Winter Soldier, you can also get more over at Vet Voice in a post by ArmySergeant, he's Active Duty and one of the organizers.

While you're over there you might want to read this one as well PTSD Is Brought On By Days Like These, it's of an incident that might just bring a shiver to your spine!

And don't miss this one at Vet Voice as well Homeless and Facing Prison: An American Tradition, as a matter of fact you should pay a daily visit for some Great insight from Active Military personal and Veterans, this sight is growing and many of the reads are well worth it.

Change?
Real Change
By William Rivers Pitt
I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.
- George Carlin

Also if you have a Blog or Website you may want to add An Eternal Flame Widget to it:

Follow This Link
to the Eternal Flame that you can leave on your blogs or sites Until The Troops Are Home and All Are Taken Care Of.

It was made by "notlightnessofbeing" who posts at a few of these sites as well as maintaining a blog.

Visit link and Copy the Code to Paste into your sites, as I put it on mine and our VFP Chapter site, and that's where it'll sit, Till We Bring Them Home and Take Care Of Them!!